


Rehab Recovery

by ImpyTricky (rychuu)



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oumota, Recovery, oumasai, saimota, saiouma, vr au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 19:40:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20840939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rychuu/pseuds/ImpyTricky
Summary: Dying in the Virtual Reality has some nasty consequences.





	Rehab Recovery

Kokichi had been the last in every aspect of recovery.

He was the last to wake up. He was the last to accept physical and psychological therapy. He was the last to join their group sessions and the last to even speak up during those said sessions. He looked even more pale than anyone could have imagined, considering how pale he was in the Neo World Program. He had bags under his eyes, cheeks sunken in, and was nothing but skin and bone. However, that wasn’t the worst of it. At least, not to him.

Kokichi Ouma could no longer walk.

The method that he died had been one of the most extreme psychological traumas the facility had ever seen. His brain barely had enough functions to breathe and keep his heart beating at first, but slowly over time he became more and more alive with the help of machines and intensive care.

That didn’t mean, however, all of his basic motor functions returned to him so easily.

With how his other classmates were recovering, Kokichi couldn’t help but to feel left behind. He did his best with his physical therapy–even more than his best, he thought–but he couldn’t help but overhear his doctors whispering to one another.

_ He may never walk again. _

As Kokichi sat in his room, IV in his arm and the fabric of his hospital gown scratching at his skin, Kokichi stared up at the wall in front of him, at the turned-off television. Blank eyes, a thousand yard stare, a mind filled with despair.

It wasn’t like he wasn’t _ _trying._ _ Kokichi was trying, he was trying _ _so hard._ _ Yet there was such little progress. It wasn’t even like he was actually paralyzed. He could feel his feet and wriggle his toes just fine. But his god forsaken brain wasn’t doing its job right. The doctors said to him that it was due to the spinal injury and method of death that was causing the problem, but Kokichi didn’t understand. He _ _knew_ _ what happened was fake, he recounted it oh so many times in bed before he went to sleep. Why was he still having so much trouble?

Before Kokichi could think too much about his dilemma, the door to his room opened. Kaito and Shuichi stepped on through, about as cheerful as they could be walking in and seeing the mess that he had become.

Though their smiles were a little brighter today.

“Hey, Kokichi!” Kaito beamed. “Sorry we’re late. The nurses downstairs were new and didn’t recognize us.”

Kokichi threw them a glance, but his eyes fell back on the television. “Mmm.”

Shuichi and Kaito had been discharged from the facility a week prior, but they still visited him nearly every single day. Before Kokichi had any proper brain functions, Kaito and Shuichi had gotten closer and became a couple. When they started spending more time with Kokichi, they had eventually realized they had feelings for him as well. They both told him at the same time just two days ago, and he hadn’t been able to respond.

He still hadn’t responded, but apparently, they were fine with that.

“We brought you something,” Shuichi muttered, quiet and as shy as ever, resting a backpack on a nearby chair. “It took us a bit of fiddling, but we managed to sneak it by…”

This piqued Kokichi’s curiosity a bit, and he turned his attention back over to them, lifting his head a little bit off of the pillows. “Hmm…?”

“Close your eyes!” Kaito grinned. “It’s a surprise. Close ‘em!”

Kokichi raised a brow. “… Why?”

“Dude, just _do_ it.”

Kokichi glared at Kaito and Shuichi, but with how they both waited patiently for him to do as the asked, he rolled his eyes and squeezed them closed.

“Okay, they’re closed…”

Kokichi could hear Kaito and Shuichi whispering to one another, and heard then shuffling about. He heard the sound of fabric, the crinkle of what he could guess was a plastic bottle, and another sound he couldn’t quite make out. It soon wouldn’t matter, for he found they had placed something extremely cold in his lap.

“Ack!” Kokichi nearly threw the offensive item, only just resisting. “Cold!”

He heard Kaito snickering. “Yeah, it’d be cold. You can open your eyes now!”

Immediately, Kokichi opened his eyes, and found himself staring at a plastic container, filled with what looked like vanilla ice cream, sitting on his lap with a metal spoon beside it.

“Happy birthday!” Kaito and Shuichi cheered in unison, though the booming voice of the former easily drowned out the latter.

“Birthday?” Kokichi raised a brow. His frown only deepened, and he let his gaze fall back onto the ice cream. He instinctively took the spoon into his hand. “… Is it already my birthday?”

“Yeah. June 21st, right?” Shuichi pulled a chair over to Kokichi’s bedside, smiling warmly at him. “That’s today. Sorry if the ice cream melted a little, we really weren’t expecting the receptionist to give us a hard time…”

“It should still be awesome anyway!” Kaito slammed his fists together. “I made it myself! Home made ice cream!”

“Home made…?” Kokichi echoed. “You made this yourself?”

“Hell yeah! You’re gonna love it, too! There’s a surprise element to it that you’re gonna _love!” _

Shuichi laughed at Kaito’s antics, before he offered Kokichi a small bottle of grape Panta. “We also brought you this, and we have a gift for you to open in a little while.”

“But first, you gotta try the ice cream! You’re gonna love it!”

Kokichi glanced over the two of them, both smiling so bright and warmly at him. They seemed so happy, being there with him of all people.

He averted his gaze. “… You don’t have to do this kind of stuff, you know.”

This caught them both off-guard, though Kaito was the first one to speak. “Huh? Don’t have to do what?”

_“This,”_ Kokichi gritted his teeth. “Come here every day and _pity_ me.”

“Pity you?” Shuichi frowned. “We’re not–”

“Don’t _lie_ to me,” Kokichi snarled. “You really think that I’d believe for a _ _second_ _ that either of you actually give two shits about me?” Kokichi clenched his jaw so tight that the stress started to hurt. “I can’t walk. I’ll _ _never_ _ be able to walk, and I’m never gonna get to leave this stupid facility either. You two come here _ever single day_ and you remind yourselves of what this stupid place means, about everything that happened, about every single second of pain we all went through–”

“Whoa, Kokichi–” Kaito tried to interrupt him, tried to get a hand on his shoulder, but Kokichi violently pulled away.

“Don’t _touch _ me!” He snapped. “And don’t lie to me that you’re totally fine coming here every day and reliving everything you’ve been through! You wouldn’t willingly come here to see me if you didn’t want to punish yourselves over some stupid, self-righteous sense of guilt!”

Kokichi’s words seemed to stir something in Kaito, and he immediately opened his mouth to protest. Shuichi threw him a glance and quickly shook his head, however, and it shut Kaito up before he could even start.

“But I don’t want your pity! I won’t want you feeling sorry for me or feeling guilty that I’m the only one still stuck in this facility! So take your stupid ice cream and go home, and stop _coming_ here!”

Finally, the rant was over, and Kokichi started panting and wheezing. His hands were balled up into fists, and soon, he squeezed his eyes back shut. He very much expected to feel the coldness of the ice cream leave his lap and for them to silently leave without another word.

But they didn’t.

Shuichi and Kaito both remained quiet for a while, making sure that Kokichi had gotten everything out, before Shuichi whispered; “Kokichi… did… something happen?”

Kokichi winced, bowing his head and letting the shadow from his bangs hide his eyes. “No. I’m just tired of seeing your stupid faces.”

“You’re lying, dude.” Kokichi heard Kaito scoff out. He heard a chair being dragged across the floor before Kaito sat in it, on the opposite side of the bed as Shuichi. “You’re doing that… _thing _ again, so cut the crap. What happened?”

Kokichi fell silent at their persistence, and he didn’t answer immediately. Soon, he finally opened his mouth, and choked out; “I heard the doctors talking this morning. About how I’m never gonna walk again. About how I’m never gonna get to leave this facility.”

“What the fuck?” Kaito raised a brow. “Who the hell said _that?” _

“What we heard was a _ _very_ _ different story from your doctor and nurses,” Shuichi muttered. “They said for what happened to you… that you were making incredible progress.”

“Then they _lied _ to you.” Kokichi snarled. He could feel tears stinging in the corners of his eyes. “It’s been weeks and I _still_ can’t walk on my own.”

“Dude, no one said there’s a rush,” Kaito huffed. “It’s gonna take a while. Probably a really long while, but it’s not like you don’t have any chance whatsoever.”

“Says you,” Kokichi hissed. “You _both_ were out in no time, already healed and checked out of this stupid place before I could even stand. I’m going to be here for the rest of my god damn miserable life.”

Shuichi and Kaito both fell silent, with Shuichi glancing over to Kaito with a deep frown. When Kaito caught his gaze with his own, he finally sighed. “That’s not entirely true, you know.”

This was enough to catch Kokichi’s attention, and make him glare at Kaito. Before he could spit out any more venom, however, Kaito continued; “Just because we can function enough for the facility to kick us out doesn’t mean we’re… _ healed.” _ Kaito tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, keeping his eyes averted from Kokichi’s glare. “I ain’t anywhere _near _ what I was before the Killing Game. I used to be able to run for miles, but now every time I run for even a minute I start coughing my lungs out.”

Kaito closed his eyes, leaning into the back of his chair and rubbing the back of his head. “I guess that’s not exactly the same, or anywhere close to it, but… Just cause we’re out doesn’t mean we are totally healed up, or anything.”

“Besides that,” Shuichi added, settling his gaze back on Kokichi. “We still have to come here anyway, for therapy and group therapy.”

“Yeah, and we’re gonna _be_ coming here for that for years.” Kaito finally opened his eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to look Kokichi in the eye. “Healing’s a process, and it’s not gonna be easy. You’re definitely fighting an uphill battle, but you’re gonna get through this.”

Kaito paused for a moment, finally letting his eyes catch Kokichi’s. “And you know what? Even on the off chance you can’t walk again, that ain’t gonna change how we feel about you. I don’t think that you’re _ _not_ _ ever gonna get better though, but still. Even on the off chance everything goes wrong, we’re still here for you.”

The tension in Kokichi’s shoulders left him, and he let his whole body relax. In the middle of Kaito’s little speech, Kokichi had hung his head, trying to avoid showing just how affected he had been from the comfort.

“It’s going to be okay,” Shuichi muttered, smile returning and resting a hand on Kokichi’s. The sudden contact made his fingers twitch, but Kokichi secretly craved the warmth. “And, Kaito’s right. Even if it’s not going to be okay… we’re still here for you, okay?”

Kokichi let Shuichi’s words hang in the air, but the warmth he felt from both of their words crept up into his chest. Finally, the feeling was too unbearable, and Kokichi pulled his hand away to throw both of his arms up in the air._ “___Gross! _ _ Gross sappy crap! Ugh, you guys are gonna _ _kiiiill_ _ me!”

“There he is,” Kaito grinned. “That’s the brat I know and love.”

“Ew, stop, you’re going to make me gag! Ultimate Supreme Leaders don’t feel feelings, we melt at the sight of gross warm gushy crap!”

This made Shuichi roll his eyes with a smile. “Right…”

“I’m gonna need to eat all of this ice cream in order to kill the gross warm feelings,” Kokichi chirped, picking up the spoon and immediately digging into the ice cream in his lap. “I bet it tastes like shit ‘cause Kaito made it!”

“Hey! It does _not!”_ Kaito snarled. “And you can’t even taste it anyway!”

“Yeah, you’re right. I should be grateful that I can’t taste Kaito’s awful cooking!”

“Why _ you!” _

The bantering made Shuichi snicker and shake his head. “What am I going to do with you two…”

“Well, you could feed me more ice cream! Especially since Kaito’s suuuucks…”

“You haven’t even _tried _the ice cream I made you yet!”


End file.
